Power management control systems (PMCSs), such as those developed and sold by the General Electric Co., monitor and control a variety of intelligent electronic devices connected to an electrical distribution system, such as power meters, circuit breakers and others. A PMCS includes a computer connected to a common bus that allows the intelligent monitoring or control devices to communicate with a server. The PMCS provides graphical representations of and links to the devices of the distribution system to enable a user to monitor and operate the distribution system.
After a customer orders a PMCS, an integrator assembles the relevant customer information, builds the application, prepares the customer PC and loads the relevant software. The integrator is also present at startup to configure the devices and the network, and to make sure the application works according to specification.
Currently, the integration of a power management control system is largely done manually, which requires a large amount of attention, expense and time. When the integrator or other technical representative is not present at the customer site, information may have to be exchanged via facsimile or telephone, which slows down the integration process. A large amount of process time results in backlogs in integration jobs, high costs of integration, and large cycle times.